The 2016 National Heritage Education Outreach Programme (HESOP) and national camp will be taking place from 03 October 2016 to 07 October 2016 in the North West Province. The National Heritage Council (NHC), in partnership with the South African National Parks (SANParks) and the DBE, has been hosting the Heritage Education Outreach Programme for the past eight years.  The programme is presented in a competition format and runs from district and provincial levels, to the culmination of the national event.

The NHC is a statutory body under the Department of Arts and Culture. Its mission is to transform, protect and promote South African heritage for sustainable development, focusing more on the Intangible Cultural Heritage. The NHC therefore celebrates heritage by supporting programmes that promote social cohesion, national identity and nation building. The programme also aims to create a vision of a nation proud of its African heritage, inculcate values embedded in the Freedom Charter and to educate the learners on the significant role played by the liberation icons.

HESOP continues to be one of the main strategic platforms available where learners engage in experiential learning on the many facets of national heritage. The programme compliments the current curriculum in terms of the Heritage subject area and is open to learners from Grades 8 to 11 as a means to orientate them on the various career paths and potential funders of the different professions and scholarships in heritage programmes.